chapter seven.

"what's wrong with me?" she murmured before dropping her pen on the open notebook and rubbed her face with the smooth lines of her palms. the page was blank with some other pages ripped away from the notebook. she had tried mood dumping on the notebook, doodling quirky sketches spontaneously along with ripping pages to calm her mind. but none of them worked.

she wanted to meet him. her motive had changed in a span of few seconds. her vision of "catching" the culprit red handed had changed to wanting to "meet" the culprit on one breezy day and have a cup of coffee with them and the first thing she would say out loud is, "why?". nonetheless, her determination to find him had not diverted.

every tick of her table clock on the desk diverted her attention to the camera and its unknown owner. with a stiff yawn, she took her phone that laid on the desk and dialed hoseok. she massaged her nape while waiting for him to pick up. after three rings, he picked her call.

"hyejin-ah, is something wrong?" it was the first thing that he worded out when he answered her call.

it was quarter past three in the morning and she was the only person awake in her household. the lights had been turned off all over the house except her study lamp that illuminated the room hazily.

"nope," she answered. "i wanted to talk about your treat. we'll do it tomorrow—well, today." she corrected herself after seeing the time.

"...is that why you called me at this hour? aren't you busy studying? why are you occupying yourself with these stu—"

"because it clouded my mind! and... i wanted us to discuss about the camera thing. we can do it both at the same time," she answered while rubbing her eyes and resting her head on the desk. "weren't you asleep? i'm surprised you answered during this time."

long yawns sounded from the other line before hobi's voice took over. "yes, before you called me."

"i must have disturbed you then," she mumbled, slowly entering into the void of dream.

"if that's what you're gonna say, then i'll hang up. and sleep. it's late." hoseok warned.

"mhmm. but the camera, it is troubling me a lot... i can't help but feel intrigued by it," she babbled, her voice getting slower and slower with each passing second. "what really is scary is... the people who are a part of our life without letting their presence known. because they are unpredictable... the lengths they would go to make their presence unnoticed as well as noticed..." she trailed.

he could hear her voice mixing and mingling with the surroundings; the quietness. this was a habit of hers when she got drowsy while talking. she would start talking talks that were out of the topic, often her pent up feelings, and slowly fall asleep. it worked like alcohol and often helped to let her unfiltered self surface which she would never show when she's conscious. though hoseok felt bad for doing this, it was exactly why he did this. and it was how he found out about her crushing on his friend, namjoon.

he smiled to himself as he hung up the call.

a few moments later, a tiny click of the door broke the silence in her room though it failed to break her slumber. a lady walked inside the room to see the girl asleep on the desk with quiet snores leaving her lips.

"how many times have i told you not to make the desk your bed?" she nagged the girl in a quiet voice before she grabbed the blanket from the girl's bed and covered it around her body. she looked at the girl once more while caressing her face and murmuring, "my daughter, don't overwork yourself." she took the girl's glasses off and placed it on the table before turning off her study lamp and exiting her room as if nothing happened.

• • •

it was a fine morning with no sight of dark clouds swimming in the sky. the ground was still damp with puddles of water occupying the roads and pavements of public places. hyejin stepped out of the house. only this time, she did not yell a good bye to her mother. the goodbyes were occasional between hyejin and her mother as her mother was usually out of the house before she would.

on stepping out of her doorstep, she found hoseok standing across her and gave a wide smile on seeing her. "let's go," hoseok said as soon as hyejin reached him. they walked in unison with rhythymic steps followed with the chirp of birds and honks of vehicles on the road.

the café was a walking distance but was situated a little farther than the café hoseok worked in. the café building was smaller than the other one but it was crowded like none other.

hyejin gave hoseok a side eye as she said, "really oppa?" hoseok coughed at the nicknane while hyejin laughed and hit the older's arm playfully before hoseok sulked.

"i heard they serve good beverages." hoseok reasoned before they entered the building with crowded customers before they parted as hoseok left to find themselves a seat.

she folded her arms as she observed the crowd enjoying their drinks with their near and dears. while roaming her eyes into every corner of this café, they reached the counter where she saw two boys. between the two of them, she first eyed the smaller one who happened to look at her at the same time. he had baby fat on his raised cheeks which almost reminded her of herself. they shared a brief eye contact before the latter broke it. the latter turned to the taller one, murmuring something in his ear while tugging his shirt.

'cute.' she thought as her mouth slid out a laugh.

then her eyes met the taller guy. he was lean and tall with a sculptured and toned face who was dressed in earthly colours.

she couldn't believe her eyes. she had gotten the apparation of the godly figure who now stood right in front of her. did her wish on her fallen eyelash work? or when she had flipped a coin on the nearby park fountain? before she could admire any further, an unbelievable action took place.

the smaller guy pulled her godly figure closer and cupped his cheeks.

her lips took in a breath of surprise as she stood watching the stunt they were pulling before the crowded café and she was as much interested as the whole café was at their gayness. before she could watch the couple escalate further, hoseok called her.

"here, i found us a seat!" hobi had the worst timing, hyejin thought.

without sparing her time to give a reply, hyejin darted her head towards the boy couple but to her dismay, they had disappeared like the disappearance of the dark clouds. he was gone again.

maybe, she should have turned a deaf ear to hobi.

a/n:- the next chapter will be posted shortly.